by KYW's Amy Feldman

As school ends and summer begins, many students look for summer jobs in the mall.  If you are working retail this summer, you may find that the clothing store you work for requires that you wear their clothes to work.  Is it legal to make you spend most of your paycheck buying your work clothes? 

Federal and many state laws require employers to pay for required uniforms.  But if a retailer requires you to wear their clothes, the question arises:  is that uniform?  Recent lawsuits have been filed against retailers like Abercrombie and The Gap, claiming that not only is the requirement to wear their clothes a uniform, but it also requires the employee to spend her whole paycheck on clothes constituting a breach of the minimum wage laws.  And while companies present the defense—that has worked in some lawsuits--that clothes that can be used outside of work don’t fit the definition of a uniform, a lot of the larger clothing stores are getting scared at the prospect of litigation—so if you are told that you have to wear their clothes, ask if there is a stipend for the clothing budget.  And ultimately, you may decide that it’s just more profitable to work in the ice cream parlor rather than the clothing store at the mall.